UNI-UTO
J51	IDEAS  AND   BELIEFS
Kround arguments nor to decide whether our
permissive society has gone too far or not yet
far enough The import int message that the
appearance of the whole underground move
ment implies if» that joung people beciuse of
greater financial independence wider opportunl
ties for travel better educition and ta&ier
access to communication channels such as
printing presses radio transmitters etc are
beginning to male their admittedly controver
sial views more w*dely publicised Further
more this is a trend which will inevitably
develop rather than dimim h and in the absence
of authoritarian repression these ft reels will
have an increasing impact on our lives beral o
Weathermen
Umtarianism has no special doctrines although
clearly as the name indicates belief is in the
single personality of God i e anti trmifcanan
This general statement however can be inter
preted with varying degrees of subtlety Thus
Unitarian belief may range from a sort ot
Arfanlsm which accepts that although Christ
was not of divine nature divine powers had been
delegated to him by the Father to the emrole
belief that Christ was a man like anyone else
and ma goodness was of the same nature is that
of many other great and good men Indeed
today many Unitarians deny belief in a personal
God and interpret their religion in purely moral
terms putting their faith to the value of love
and the brotherhood of man The Toleration
Act (1689) excluded Unitaiians but from 1813
they were legally tolerated m England Zsever
theless attempts were made to turn them out of
their chapels on the ground that the preachers
did not hold the views of the original founders
of the endowments But this ended with the
Dissenting Chapels Act of 1845 In America
no such dimcultiea existed and in the Boston
of the 19th cent many of the great literary
figures were openly umtanan botn in belief and
name eg Emerson Longfellow Lowell and
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Utilitarianism, a school of moral philosophy of
which the mam proponents were J S Mfl]
(1806-73) and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
Bentham based his ethical theory upon the
utilitarian principle that the greatest happiness
of the greatest number is the criterion of
morality What is good is pleasure or happi
ness what is bad is pain If we act on this
basis of self interest (pursuing what we believe
to be our own happiness) then what we do will
automatically be for the general eood The
serious failing of this thesis is (1) that it makes
no distinction between the quality of one
pleasure and anot,her and (2) that Bentham
failed to see that the law might not be framed
and administered by men as benevolent as him
self J S Mill accepted Bentham s position
in general but seeing its failings emphasised (1)
that self interest was an inadequate basis fir
utilitariaiiisra and suggested that we should
take as the real criterion of good the social con
sequences of the act (2) that some pleasures
rank, higher than others and held that those of
the intellect are superior to those of the senses
Not only is the social factor emphasised but
emphasis is also placed on the nature of the act
Utopias. The name Utopia is taken from a
Greek word meaning nowhere and was first
used in 1516 by fan Thomas More U478-153o)
as the title of nis book referring to a mythical
island in the south Pacific where he sited his
ideal society Since then it has been used oi
any ideal or fanciful society and here a few will
be mentioned (The reader may recall that
Samuel Butler s 19th cent noveL describing an
imaginary society in New Zealand where
criminals were treated and the sick punished,
was entitled Erevifwn which, is the word no-
where in reverse ) It should be noted that
not all Utopias were entirely fanciful—eg
Eobsrt Owen s and Francois Fourier's beliefs,
although found to be impractical, were, in fact
tried out
Sw Thomas More More wrote at a tune
when the rise of the wool growing trade had
resulted m farming land l>eing turned over to
pasture and there was a great wave of unemploy
ment and a rise in crime among the dispossessed
More began to think in terms of the mediaeval
ideal of small co operative communities in
which class interests and personal gam played
a decreasing part a society which would nave
the welfare of the people at heart both from the
physical and intellectual points of view His
Utopia was one m which there was no private
property because the desire for acquisition and
private possessions lay at the root of human
misery There was therefore only common
ownership of land and resources Each class
of worker was equipped to carry out its proper
function m the economic scheme and each was
fairly rewarded for its share in production so
that there was neither wealth nor poverty to
inspire conflict Nobody was allowed to be
idle until the time came for mtu to retire when
he became free to enjoy whatever cultural
pleasures he withed but smf>e the system was
&e\ old of the waste associated with competition
the working day would be only six hours
There was to be compulsory schooling and free
medical care for everybody full religious
toleration complete equality of the ses.es and
a modem system of dealm*, with crime which
was free from vmdictiveness and crutltj
Government was to be simple and direct by
democratically elected officials whtse powers
would be stnctls limited and the public ex
penditure kept under close scrutiny It will
be seen that More was far on advance o his •u.e
and to most democratically minded pe< vple in ad-
\ ance of an earlier Utopia Plato a Republic w hitli
ib described under the headinr of Education
James Harrington James Harrington pub
hshed his book Tlie, Gwnmomcealtii of O^eam
m 10o6 and offered it to Oliver Cromwell for his
consideration but without tangible remits
Better than any other man of his time H.imug
ton understood the nature of the economic
revolution which was then taking place and
like More saw the private ownership of Und as
the main cause of conflict He put forward the
theory that the control of property particularly
in the shape of land determines the character
of the political structure of the state if property
were universally distributed among the people
the sentiment for its protection would naturally
resul^ m a republican form of government
The Commonwealth of Oeeana was a souety
of laws and not of men —i e it was to be
legally based and structured so as to be mde
pendent of the t,ood or ill will of any individuals
controlling ifc Thus there must be a written
constitution a two house legislature frequent
elections with a secret ballot and separation, of
powers between legislature and executrve—all
today familiar features of parliamentary
democracy but unique in his time
bamt Simon The Utopias of the late 18th
and 19th cent come, of course into the period
of the industrial revolution and of laissez
faire capitalism Individual enterprise and
complete freedom of competition formed the
outlook of the ruling class Naturally the
Utopias of this period tended to have a strongly
socialist tinge since such theories are obviously
produced by those who are not satistted with
existing conditions Saint &imon s New Chris
Immty (1826) is one such and by many Giude
Henri Comte de bainttounon (1760-182o) is
regarded as the founder of French socialism
His book urged a dedication of society to the
principle of human brotherhood and a com
munity which would be led by men of science
motivated by wholly spiritual aims Produc
tion property was to be nationalised (or social
teed as he describes the process) and employed
to serve the public good rather than private
gain the worker was to produce according to
his capacity and to be rewarded on the baaaa of
individual merit the principle of inheritance
was to be abohshed since it denied the principle
of reward for accomplishment on which the
society was to be founded Saint-Simons
proposals were not directed towards the poorer
classes alone but to the conscience and intellect
of all He was deeply impressed with the
productive power of the new machines and his
scheme was. first and foremost intended as a
method of directing that power to the better
ment of humanity as a whole,
JPowCw    Erancois Marie  Charles  Foraner
(1772-1887)  although by conviction a phUo